‘Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful’ Review
by Frank Martin
After so many seasons and episodes, it would stand to reason that Black Mirror would be running out of meta commentary to explore. Instead, it’s become clear that the show is driven by incredibly creative people. Since technology is growing at such a rapid pace, there is constantly new material to mine. In this day and age of AI technology and device tracking, society is becoming increasingly eerie and scary to live in. Black Mirror has an uncanny ability to harness this fear and create engaging storytelling from it. “Joan is Awful” is exemplary of how all these elements can combine to create poignant and entertaining television.
(Spoilers follow, so proceed with caution)
Joan (Annie Murphy) has a fairly average life that is turned upside down when a dramatization of it is presented as the newest show on a streaming service. She is played by a digital version of Salma Hayek and tries to get the actress’ attention by performing outlandish acts. Unfortunately, both Joan and Selma are left with no legal recourse against the streaming service. Together, the two of them plot to destroy the quantum computer responsible for creating the show, but they discover that their reality is merely a version of the show that the real Joan is watching.
Besides having a mind-bending twist of an ending, the episode has a lot to say about the world we live in. What makes the show even more special is that Netflix is engaged in this conversation. It’s one thing for someone to write a commentary on a streaming service and the technology they utilize. It’s another for that streaming service to help facilitate the story. Props should be given to both Black Mirror and Netflix for exploring the scary subject and doing so in a very creative and engaging way.
Black Mirror is now streaming on Netflix.
